


A Trip to Remember

by FicsByMaria



Series: Angels are not always good [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Daminette, F/M, Gaydrien
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-15 11:15:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21252500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FicsByMaria/pseuds/FicsByMaria
Summary: It’s a daminette fic, but Marinette’s friends LOVE and SUPPORT her





	1. Prologue

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief as she waited for the plane to board, thinking over the events of the last 6 years.

Un, she received a pair of magic earrings at the age of 13 and became Ladybug.

Deux, she had to deal with that megalomaniac Hawkmoth misusing the miraculous to terrorize the city of Paris (an event now referred to as 'The Siege of Paris' which she thought was a bit dramatic)

Trois, her move into lycee, which although it removed Lila from her life it also separated her from Kim and Rose, her childhood friends, and made her anxious about the future.

Quatre, her best friend had been revealed as her other best friend and their brief romance that followed (which she cringes at even 3 years later)

Cinq, said best friend's father trying to "talk him out of being gay" (the nerve of that man, worst dad award winner, 4 years in a row)

Six, the same awful man being revealed to her as Hawkmoth himself, cementing him as just The Worst™ and supporting her best friend as he had to testify against his dad not once, but twice.

Sept, and maybe the worst, the unwanted fame that came with revealing the identities of herself and the rest of the miraculous users. She'd allowed Alya to release their pre-recorded video to the Ladyblog as closure for the citizens of Paris. She didn't expect it to get her recognition from the government which she rejected when they wouldn't grant her partner the same recognition. For better or worse, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was famous.

It had been a long journey from where she was when she was 13 to where she is now at the age of 19 and she was hoping this vacation would be a fond farewell to her childhood.

She smiled over at her three friends, Nino and Alya clustered around Adrien's phone, critiquing his hotel choice. She leaned over and ruffled his shock of bright blue hair. She could feel it, this was going to be a good trip, no stress.

After all, how bad could it even be in Gotham?


	2. Chapter 1

"Heads up, looks like Adrien Agreste is going to be visiting Gotham for a while, make sure to keep an eye on him."

"Hawkmoth's kid? The furry?? What's he doing in America and why should we care?" Jason leaned back in his chair, quirking an eyebrow at Tim.

"First of all, I don't think Chat Noir is a furry, I think that's just how their powers work, magical girl style." Jason shot a glare at the oldest brother, "And second of all, his dad was a major villain, y'know responsible for the four year run of terrorism known as The Siege of Paris? He could be dangerous, former hero or not."

<strike>(smash cut to Adrien trying to impress Alya by stuffing large amounts of airplane peanuts into his nose)</strike>

"Adrien cut that out! You're disappointing your sister!"

"For the last time Nino! Just because he dyed his hair blue doesn't mean we're siblings!" Marinette huffed, she loved her friends, but sometimes the best thing for people was space.

By the time they settled into their hotel Marinette was ready for some exercise and quiet, thankfully Amusement Mile wasn't far from their hotel.

"Hey Adri, I'm going to Amusement Mile wanna come?"

"You're going there now?? How are you not exhausted?"The boy rolled over and gave her an incredulous look from the other bed.

"We literally just sat for hours, I'm gonna go nuts if I don't go burn off some energy. You still act like a cat even without your miraculous." Marinette pulled on her jacket and grabbed her purse.

She was expecting crowds and the usual city foot traffic. She was not expecting a man in a two-tone armored truck to crash into the front of a jewelry store and cause absolute chaos.

But hey, she didn't learn all those skills to be a better Ladybug for nothing.

-

When Damian was sent out to stop yet another Two-Face robbery while he was out investigating some other leads he was expecting one thing and one thing only.

Damian was expecting the Harvey Dent Experience™ where Two-Face breaks into some store with his car, holds a gun to a civilian's head and then sticks around too long and makes too big of a mess to make a clean getaway.

He wasn't expecting to see a tiny blue-haired woman absolutely destroying Two-Face in hand to hand combat. She'd managed to disarm him and was in the process of restraining him with what looked like a torn seatbelt ripped directly from the armored truck.

This was raising all the alarm bells on his brain for one huge reason. Nobody fought quite like that, nobody fought with such precision and grace.

Nobody, unless they were trained by the League of Assassins themselves.


	3. Chapter 2

Damian followed her back to her hotel, unwilling to let an assassin slip away unknown. Luckily enough for him she answered a phone call, unaware of the vigilante listening in.

“Yeah, no don’t worry Alya there’s no problem, nothing I couldn’t handle, but I am heading back, enough excitement for today,” she paused and huffed a sigh, “ yeah all right at least I found a public gym around here thats open in the mornings, thought I could use some practice.”

  
“No Al, I’m right in front of the hotel, and I’m pretty sure the asshole who has been following me is at least intelligent enough to not attack me in the open.”

Damian froze, he knew she shouldn’t be able to see him, but he still tensed as she turned to where he was hidden. Being able to see her face clearly for the first time he immediately recognized her, The Ladybug. 

That evening Damian was even more sullen than usual, and spent all his time pouring over the files of the four Parisians, imitating Tim in both focus and caffeine intake. 

“Alright kid, you’re not allowed to be me, get your own gimmick,” Tim said, taking the fourth can of Monster out of Damian’s twitching left hand, “Now tell me what’s wrong, use your words like the adult you are.”

“Tt,” Damian sighed and looked up at his older brother, “why didn’t you run background checks on the parents? And not Agreste’s, the girl’s.”

“I did? It was pretty clear cut, daughter of Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng, owners of their own bakery. What’s up?”

“Sabine Cheng. There’s little to no information on her prior to her immigration to France and after her birth.”

“What are you saying? She’s a real person, all the records are genuine.”

“She was one of the Angels. A squad within the League of Assassins. There were three of them, known for being nonthreatening at first glance, lethal at second. I saw Dupain-Cheng get caught up in Two-Face's attempted heist, she's obviously been trained by her mother." He spun his chair around and looked at Tim, "I think we were wrong about the dangerous one, we should be keeping an eye on Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

-

Marinette stretched and secured her hair into a ponytail, looking over at Adrien. 

"Ready for a match, kitty?"

"Ugh you always win. I hate this, why do you even bother?”

“Gotta stay sharp, Gotham is dangerous. And besides, I'll take you out for lunch, quit your whining.”

The boxing ring was currently occupied by two dark haired men, the latter of which had just flipped the other over his shoulder and was taking a drink of Gatorade.

“I'm going to ask him to spar me.”

“Mari no, please.”

“Too late, I'm going to fight him.”

Marinette approached the stranger, tapped him on the shoulder and stepped back, anticipating the swing she usually got from Alya when she surprised her friend. The tall guy turned around and looked down at her, mild confusion playing on his face. 

“Oh sorry, did you want to use the ring? My brother and I were just finishing up.”

“Actually I was wondering if you would spar with me, my friend over there is being a stick in the mud and won’t give me a challenge, but you look like you could.”

“Sorry but I’m not going to fight my favorite fashion designer, I don’t think I could ruin a possible business partnership worse than by kicking your ass” 

“Wait how do you know who I am?” Marinette was taken aback at someone recognizing her as the fashion designer MDC and not former superhero Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“Honestly? It’s kind of obvious, but I really admire how you kept them separate, it’s super noble of you to not use your connections and fame to get ahead. I’m Tim Drake, your biggest fan.”

“Thank you Tim, I never really wanted to be famous and I want to achieve based on merit alone. But dont think your flattery will save you, you've committed the terrible sin of not fighting me and because you have insulted me so I will never design for you.” she declared, playfully poking Tim in the ribs.

In doing so, she had shifted her footing to the edge of the mat, tipping her balance. She didn’t even realize she was falling until she was caught by strong arms and looking into the deep green eyes of a boy she didn’t know. Before she could open her mouth to apologise profusely he had already cut her off with two simple words.

“Hello Angel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I salute a couple of you for being right with your predictions, keep it up and we’re gonna have a fun time with this series.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry about the confusion, Here’s the proper chapter ^^;

She had thought her stuttering and blushing had gotten better since her days of college crushes, she really had! But apparently when confronted with a gorgeous green-eyed boy her brain conveniently forgot about this fact and the only thing she could possibly respond with was combat.

“Weak form, 6/10 at best.” Damian barely had time to blink at her bored tone before she rolled out of his arms, dropped into a crouch and swept his legs out from under him. “If you’re trying to be the princely type you’ll never pull it off if you can’t catch the damsel in distress without getting your ass handed to you.”

Marinette felt her cheeks flush as she heard Adrien and Tim laughing at her.

She turned to glare at her partner and was unsurprised to find herself being filmed by the boy.

“You better send that to Alya, she's gonna hate to have missed this.”

“Already way ahead of you Bug, also I'm sending it to your mom and Mme. Tsurugi, they're gonna be so proud of you.”

“Adrien Agreste don't you dare. You KNOW maman will just brag to Aunt Talia about this!”

“Yeah and that'll be _so_ terrible, what's she gonna do, buy you another sword? I don't know why you complain, she's cool as hell.” Marinette's attempts to grab his phone were unfortunately thwarted by the foot of height he had on her.

Damian and Tim meanwhile were watching this whole exchange absolutely stunned to hear that these two had almost familial relationships with three out of the four most dangerous women ever trained by the League of Assassins. At this point, Tim decided to make just the worst decision possible by calling out to them.

“Hey Adrien! I need you to settle an argument between me and my brothers. Will you confirm or deny the rumor that you're a furry?”

Adrien shrugged, “The world may never know?” and grinned at Tim. Marinette just shoved him and planted her hands on her hips, a queen about to make a declaration.

“He’s a closet furry and he wants to know if any of your brothers are a) hot, b) interested in musicals, or c) able to kick his ass. I'm cutting out all the bullshit where he tries to subtly glean this information.”

Damian snorted at this and Tim elbowed him, trying to restrain his own laughter. 

“So Dick or Jason then?” Damian glared at his brother, trying to figure out when his genius iq abandoned him.

“I am not allowing you to set up one of our brothers with the son of Hawkmoth.”

At this, Marinette marched up to Damian, grabbing his collar and yanking him down to her eye level.

“You will speak of and to him with respect or not at all. His father’s choices are his own and nobody sacrificed more for the safety of Paris. Do not make me repeat this lesson.” Damian's eyes sparkled dangerously.

“I'm not sure Angel, I don't think I fully understand you.” He shot Tim and Adrien a cocky grin as he was dragged into the boxing ring by the petite girl.

-

Tim was impressed. She'd lost sure, but she'd held up an incredible fight and they probably could have been evenly matched forever if not for her inferior stamina. However he was now at a loss for what to do after this intel mission had somehow ended up with Damian being asked out for coffee and him being left with, as Jason had so eloquently put it, th furry. Truly today was weird as hell.

Bonus: Wayne Family Group Chat

TD: update: Chat Noir is a furry, Ladybug calls Talia Al Ghul her Aunt and somehow Damian got a date.

TD: Oh also Jason you're exactly Adrien’s type apparently 

DG: What kind of day are you even having???

JT: no i deadass think youre lying about all those things

DW: He is not.

JT: wtf

DG: Damian how did you get a date????

DW: No comment.

BW: Okay I also would like an explanation 

TD: honestly? so would I


	5. Chapter 4

Damian was more like his father than he was willing to admit. He blamed genetics for his decision to ignore all the warnings in his head and go on a date with Marinette. He sat at their table, trying to drink his tea instead of staring at her and attempted to calm his racing heart.

Racing heart. Because of the adrenaline still rushing through him. Obviously. Not because Marinette was beautiful and dangerous. It didn't matter that she was strong and that the whole family would adore her. Or that he wouldn’t have to worry about his mother coming after her.. He wasn’t thinking about that, he was drinking his tea. 

“So Earl grey? I've always preferred chamomile or mint teas.” Marinette's voice yanked him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah well our butler is british and has slowly infected me with a fondness for tea.”

She raised an eyebrow at this, “Butler?” 

“Yeah, Alfred is family but technically he’s our family butler”

“So the Drake family is rich then huh?”

“I’m a Wayne actually, all my brothers are adopted.” He watched her for a reaction, puzzled when she tilted her head. “Oh like Wayne Industries? Cool.”

A lot about this girl was just baffling. She was just told she was sitting at a table with the son of the most influential man in the city and just continued to drink her latte. “Look, I grew up surrounded by famous people. I, technically, am three different famous people. You’re not special.” She said this without looking up from the sketch she had started a few minutes ago. 

Glancing up, she said, “So aside from having the weight of the world on your shoulders, what do you do?” 

“Uh.. I paint sometimes, but mostly I take care of my pets.”

“Oh? What kind of pets do you have? I have a hamster, which is technically Adrien's, but he's my rat son and I love him.”

“I have a cow, a Great Dane named Titus, and a cat named Alfred.”

“Like your butler?”

“You have no idea how annoying it can get, my brothers are awful.”

“Oh I don't know, must be nice having siblings.”

“You can have them if you want, they won’t be missed.”

Marinette laughed at this and then slid her sketch across the table so he could look at it. She had drawn a bomber jacket with two birds embroidered onto it the feathers notated to show that they would shift colors in the light. He recognized it as something Tim referred to as a ‘MDC Original Technique’. 

“It's beautiful. What's it for?”

“I like to design things for people I know and I think it'd look good on you.” she shrugged and pulled the sketch back, continuing to sketch.

“So I want to know what kind of Aunt sent you a sword, I heard you and Adrien arguing about it.”

“Oh she's not my actual Aunt, she's my mom's friend from boarding school. My mom decided I needed self defense training during the Siege so I got some training from her. She’s a martial arts trainer, but she decided a good gift for my 18th birthday was a sword.”

“Ah a coming of age gift.”

“Yeah okay it’s the thought that counts, but like why would I need a sword, I don't even know how to use one.”

“Would you like to learn?”

“Careful pretty boy, I just might take you up on that offer.”

-

Bruce had been expecting an explanation. He hadn't been expecting his youngest to return to the manor, declare that he was going to teach a girl how to wield a sword, and then disappear to take care of his pets.

Tim and Jason were both bracing for the end of the world. Never had Demon Spawn taught anyone willingly, something was horribly wrong.

Finally Jason leapt up from the couch and started shouting, “OH MY GOD HE'S IN LOVE, BRUCE YOUR AWFUL TASTE IN DANGEROUS WOMEN IS GENETIC.” 


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because this chapter is short and because i've had a bad day, y’all get a double update. Please validate me

Adrien was fine, really between everything that happened to him in the last six years this was probably the least concerning, but something about Damian rubbed him the wrong way. The guy’s vibes were odd, unstable, and in a way reminded him of the feral undercurrent that came from the Black Cat Miraculous. Sometimes he had felt himself tipping too far into that chaos, and it always frightened him away, but he got the feeling that Damian was fully immersed in that chaos. 

Maybe that would balance Marinette out. She had used too much of the Ladybug’s power too frequently. She had used multiple miraculous at once. Even if she couldn’t recognize it, he could. She would go into manic periods where all she would do was create, neglecting her needs and staying up for days on end. Master Fu had warned him about this possibly after they gave up their miraculous, so he was vigilant and stayed by her side during these episodes. He made sure she took care of herself when lost in her creative abyss. 

When she returned from her and Alya’s trip to the Fashion District he could see the spark of creation in her eyes, she was carrying three bolts of fabric and a bag full of beads and thread. He could only hope that this would be a mission focused episode, those usually were quick and he didn't want Marinette to lose a large part of her vacation to an episode. 

She had spent all of the evening handcrafting a jacket and had been hemming the sleeves when Adrien had gone to bed. When he woke up to check on her she was talking on the phone. Unusual, it being 4am and she normally wouldn’t interrupt her focus for anything.

“I’m really not all that interested Auntie.”

A pause.

“I’m sure I can handle it, it’s not that, I met someone, I don’t want Damian involved.”

A longer pause.

“I don’t care, think he does or will at least. That’s not the point Talia! 

She hung up, returning her focus to the bird she was embroidering. Adrien walked over and took her water bottle, refilling it and returning it.

By a reasonable time that morning Marinette had finished the blue bomber jacket she had spent the last fourteen hours working on and had promptly passed out. Nino was talking Alya out of going to Crime Alley for what she called ‘Journalism reasons’, and Adrien was watching Master Chef and sending his dad pictures of the harbor that he and Nino had taken yesterday. The Gorilla in return had sent him several pictures of Plagg, his hamster (Plagg would have hated having a rodent named after him, but that’s exactly why he had decided to do it.).

It was a relatively calm morning, until Alya came from the adjoining hotel room, Marinette’s phone clutched in her hand and hollering, “GIRL WAKE UP DAMIAN JUST ASKED YOU OUT TO DINNER!!”


	7. Chapter 6

Marinette ran a hand over the hair that Alya had braided into a crown and looked around. She was standing outside an upscale restaurant in the west part of Burnley, Retsina on the Gardens, looking for any sign of Damian. She spotted him handing his keys to the valet, he was wearing a dark green suit with a metallic grey tie. The designer in her was pleased that she’d had the foresight to wear a grey dress to avoid clashing with whatever he wore. 

Damian couldn't believe his luck, Marinette was absolutely gorgeous. She had worn a knee-length grey dress with lace sleeves that accentuated her incredibly muscular arms while still making her look delicate. Truly the woman was all muscle and infinite grace.

“You look stunning Mari” 

“And you have an excellent sense of style, I may have to keep you around”

“Shall we go inside?” He asked, offering his arm to her. She took it and he led them into the restaurant.

The interior was decorated in cream colors and trellises of ivy, Dark curtains hung from arches, sectioning off the dining areas and making the open space seem intimate.

“We have a reservation under Wayne.” Damian told the hostess, earning a complete halt in conversation from the party that had just entered behind them. After being seated at a table with a gorgeous view of the Giordano Botanical Gardens, Marinette finally asked “I thought you didn’t like using your last name as leverage? Alya and I looked it up, this place is impossible to get reservations at.”

Damian smiled and shrugged “I normally wouldn’t, but I think you deserve to see the best of Gotham, and one of the owners happens to be a friend of mine.”

“How did you meet?”

“We both took an architecture class last year at Gotham University, I because I was bored and He because his business classes were becoming too monotonous as he finished his degree.”

“You took an architecture class because you were bored. Not to be rude Damian, but that sounds fake as hell.”

“I did learn quite a bit about the impact of Roman concrete on our modern architecture.”

“You’re so weird. On another note this restaurant has an incredible wine selection and I’m so angry at America for making me underage again.”

Damian just laughed at her and they fell into comfortable conversation until the bill came. Marinette was disappointed, she wouldn’t be able to see him for the rest of their trip but he understood that she had plans that couldn’t be abandoned.

He pulled away as her taxi arrived but Marinette pulled him back, placing both hands on the sides of his face and kissing him. Damian returned the kiss like it was his only salvation, wishing she would never leave.

-

It was two weeks later that the Wayne household received the package. Two weeks of Damian having a shorter temper with everyone than he usually would have. Two weeks since Robin had been benched so Damian could focus on getting ready for college.

They didn’t know what had happened to make him react like this but they did know that it suddenly disappeared after he had received the package. Suddenly Damian was back to his polite, if distant, self that they’d known for the past six years.

The package had only been a white paper box with ‘Damian Wayne’ scrawled across it in a curly script. There was no stamp or return address, it was too nondescript and odd to not be dangerous. It had been delivered with the rest of their mail, but nobody was willing to risk it. They had been about to have it disposed of before Damian saw the handwriting and grabbed it, disappearing back into his room. 

All they knew was that Damian now had a new bomber jacket that was embroidered with birds. And that he was less focused and more hopeful. They hadn’t seen the note that was with the jacket, the note that said:

_ Damian,  _

_ I’ve missed you, and we will meet again. I’ll be attending Gotham University in the fall, and I trust that you will find me. _

_ Always Yours, Marinette _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next part of this series, Blinded by Hope, will be updating weekly at least, but it really depends on my schedule, I hope you all enjoyed the improved version of A Trip to Remember!  
(And if your curious, the original and its scrapped sequel can be found on my tumblr @Fics-By-Maria)


End file.
